Many times I get asked when helping children in Africa
if they are “
real” orphans or are they partial orphans? Can you imagine? Should
it matter- really? What makes a real orphan- real?
Some laws say that a “true” orphan is one
with no parents. While others call a “social” orphan, a child living without
parental care.
Webster Dictionary says it’s a child deprived by death of
one or usually both parents.
Wikipedia states it is a minor bereft through “death or
disappearance of, abandonment, or desertion by, or separation, or loss
from-both parents.
UNICEF says it is ANY child that has lost one parent as
an orphan. In this approach, a maternal orphan is a child whose mother has
died, a paternal orphan is a child whose father has died, and a double orphan
has lost both parents. This contrasts with the other use of the word- half
orphan- to describe children that had lost only one parent.
Even our U.S. Immigration laws have a description of what
the word orphan means to them. (For the purpose of adoption)
A child may
be considered an orphan because of the death or disappearance of, abandonment
or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents. The child of an
unwed mother or surviving parent may be considered an orphan if that parent is
unable to care for the child properly and has, in writing, irrevocably released
the child for emigration and adoption. The child of an unwed mother may be
considered an orphan, as long as the mother does
not marry (which would result in the child’s having a
stepfather) and as long as the child’s biological father has not legitimated
the child. If the father legitimates the child or the mother marries, the
mother is no longer considered a sole parent. The child of a surviving parent
may also be an orphan if the surviving parent has not married since the death of the other parent
(which would result in the child’s having a stepfather or stepmother).
Regardless, the need is all the same. To have someone say
they value them and want them.
Does it need a specific label? Should it matter whether they are real, partial,
social, half, paternal, maternal, or double orphaned?
And while the name Global Orphan Outreach is construed at
times, as an orphan outreach organization only, we have made it our mission to demonstrate
the Love of Jesus by supporting outreach in all areas that build Godly relationships,
increase awareness of opportunities to help others in need, and promote the
collaboration of our resources and talents when helping others.
For that matter we are all at one time or another “Orphaned”.
Not in the sense that we are starving
children with no clothes or a home. However, we all have that core need,
as God created us, to want, to need someone in our lives to “choose” us. To show us
value and that we really matter.
Whether it is an orphan in a third world
country...
or my elderly neighbor who is all alone.
Whether it is the child whose
parents are too busy to notice he exists ...
or the girl prostitute working the
streets for money and yes for love. (If only for an hour)
No, orphans need NOT be across the ocean, a half world away
needing us, to actually get our attention. One just needs to become aware of
their surroundings here to see them. It is personal. It should be personal.
Personal involvement requires us to help someone else needing to feel valued.
Invest in them and you invest in God’s Kingdom. Some call it the “Social Gospel”.
I say it’s God’s love in action.
